So I got a server that has an Intel processor featuring an iGPU (Intel Xeon E3-1245 v2) which I want to use. I installed everything so that when I SSH into the machine "vainfo" works - so there is at least something working. Inside the VNC session "vainfo" does not work and applications that I start over the VNC session do not utilize the GPU which I can monitor using "sudo intel_gpu_top" via SSH. If I run "sudo vainfo" inside the VNC session, it works.
I tried to playback videos in a browser in VNC and it stutters/lags completely, basically the FPS go way down. The CPU usage goes up and the GPU is not working at all.
Now my question is: Is there a way to get this to work or is this simply impossible? I remember using a VNC connection to another server with a discrete GPU and it worked perfectly via VNC. Barely any CPU usage when playing back videos and that stutter/lag in the VNC connection was barely noticeable. So I'm sure there is a way to do this but I cannot (for days now) figure out what I need to do differently.
I tried different linux distributions, tried different Intel GPU drivers (I figured in the end that I need i965), different VNC applications and different configurations but nothing seems to work. I'm on Debian 11 right now but also tried Ubuntu 18.04, 20.04 and 22.04.
Some stuff I did:
- added the user to the video and render group
- created a
/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-intel.conf
file containing
Section "OutputClass"
Identifier "Intel"
MatchDriver "i915"
Driver "intel"
EndSection
and many other combinations, including setting same in /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Added
xdg.force_integrated=1
toGRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT
and applied usingsudo update-grub
Tried the following packages
sudo apt install xserver-xorg-video-intel
sudo apt install xserver-xorg-video-all
sudo apt-get install i965-va-driver vainfo
sudo apt-get install libvdpau-va-gl1 i965-va-driver vdpauinfo
Set
VDPAU_DRIVER=va_gl
Removed
nomodeset
fromGRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT
and applied usingsudo update-grub
And I mean as vainfo somehow works, I was not unsuccessful in getting the iGPU to generally work or let's say be ready to work but that's it.
The only way I was able to utilize the GPU for a complete desktop and all running apps was using Windows and connecting via RDP but that's not an option, I just wanted to make sure that the iGPU generally works and is not incompatible with the mainboard or disabled in BIOS.
If anybody could guide me in the right direction, that would be great. Thanks in advance.